MH - Why We Have the Leaders We Have

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've been hard on John Derbyshire over at NRO, for good reason, but here's another example of why I keep reading him - this marvelous description in his obituary of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath (of whom it was once said that "when he walks into a crowded room, people look at each other and ask: ‘Who was that who just left?’”). If Derb's right, this explains a lot about why we so often seem to have to choose between mediocre candidates at election time (are you listening, Bob Dole?):

It says something about politics that such a person can rise to the top. You have to be clever and capable enough to make yourself indispensable to a succession of favor-granting power-holders, and dogged enough to plow on ahead through all the slights and embarrassments that come with having an unattractive personality. Perhaps the fact that a person as un-amiable as Heath could succeed, is an indication of how very small is the pool of energetic, capable people in government. Time and again, his superiors must have sighed and said: “Well, I suppose it’ll have to be Ted, then,” to groans and protests from those in earshot.

As I said, now it all makes sense.